One after another, the warships revealed their tall and majestic bodies on the sea level, the white canvas swayed in the wind, like a fluttering battle flag, the bow cut through the blue waves, and the white waves surged towards both sides of the bow, and the waves stirred up made the originally blue waves wave the sea like a pot of boiling water. 【Reading.com】

Zhang Xingba turned his head and looked to his side, on the sea near Nachiloe Island, countless Chinese Imperial warships were already ready for the enemy. The sails of the blood-red empire were fluttering in the wind, and the golden dragon in the east seemed to be ready to break through the flag at any time, soaring above the nine heavens.

"Tell the brethren to prepare for battle." Zhang Xingba took a deep breath, put down the binoculars, clenched his hands into fists, his eyes were shining eagerly, and his face, which had been a little tired from the scorching sun, was already as cold and hard as iron, like steel.

As Zhang Xingba's order was given, the warships quickly moved into action, and the gun windows on the side of the ship opened one after another, revealing dark and solid barrels, and the muzzles of the guns were as deep as the entrance to hell, as if they were expecting to absorb the frightened and panicked undead.

On deck, a large number of armed men and sailors were already focused on it, shuttling between the cables and masts, splashing seawater on the dry cables and where flammable materials were piled up.

The armoured combatants were examining their guns and blades in order to inflict damage on the enemy in the event of a possible broadside battle.

Just after the warships of the Chinese Empire entered the battle state, the fleets of the United States of America had already discovered that their opponents had been arrayed, and they quickly reacted, and the battleship groups began to put on a standard combat lineup, and the guns originally hidden in the side of the battleship poked their heads out of the side of the ship, showing their hideous appearance.

Just as the fleet of the United States of America was in formation, cautiously but resolutely approaching the Chinese Imperial warship group, a tragic battle to the death was about to begin. At this very moment, on the summit of an unnamed island beside the island of Chiloe, several Spaniards dressed as ordinary merchants were standing, holding binoculars and observing the two sides that were about to fight.

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Not far away on the beach, a small clipper was moored, which was their ship, as an ally of the Chinese Empire, the Spanish governor of Chile was not optimistic that these Orientals would win the final victory in this war, but he still sent his governor's adviser Castile and the enthusiastic commander of the Spanish Chilean colonial fleet, Commodore Hierro, to watch the battle.

Although their request was approved by the commander of the Eastern Fleet, that guy was unwilling to let the Spaniards get too close on the grounds of security, which was exactly what these Spaniards wanted, after all, now, Spain and the United States were in a period of peace, and Spain was not willing to offend the United States of America at this time, they preferred to hide in the rear, watching the New World colonial forces of the Chinese Empire and the United States fight to the death, and it was best to lose both, so that they could lose both, it is easier for Spain to profit from it.

Therefore, their observation group came to this nameless island on the edge of the field on an armed clipper, first, they wanted to see the combat effectiveness of the navies of these two countries, and second, they naturally had the mentality of watching the show, but now, when the warship groups of the two sides were about to start to enter the range of shelling, the actions of the Orientals made the excellent naval officer Brigadier Hierro puzzled. "Is the commander of the Chinese Imperial Fleet an idiot? He didn't know that his fleet was in a downwind position at the moment, and it was still motionless. Does he want to use these warships as batteries by virtue of their numbers? ”

"Could it be that the commander of the Eastern Fleet thought that the guns on his battleship were all fortress guns?" Castilla, the governor's adviser, pursed his lips with some contempt, although Spain had fallen, it was still a Western maritime power, especially those officials who worked in the colonies, and they also knew a lot about maritime affairs, which also proved that he was at least not a stupid adviser who ate dry food.

Before the words fell, the Eastern Fleet, which had already arranged its side guns in place, had already opened fire, although it was several miles away from the battlefield, but the dense roar of artillery fire still made people's scalps numb, but in an instant, the smoke from the gun barrels almost enveloped the Eastern battleship group.

"Damn, is this the fleet that terrifies the colonists of all Europe in the East?" Brigadier General Hierro couldn't help but shake his head, a look of disappointment. "If this continues, they won't even have a chance to open their eyes." At the downwind, after the battleship fired, the choking smoke that diffused would be blown back, covering the view of the combatants on the battleship, although the fleet of the Eastern Empire was in an oblique formation, and was not completely downwind, but compared to the fleet of the United States of America, which had completely occupied the upper hand, it had lost the opportunity.

This is a naval battle, in which the time and place are favorable, which best shows the level of the commander of the battleship and the quality of the naval soldiers, and the small fleet that occupies a favorable situation can even destroy several times the enemy.

As the second class battleship Purple Shark, the third class battleship Tiger Shark, and the third class battleship Blue Shark at the forefront of the battleship column bore the brunt of the United States of America fleet's main targets, and one after another solid cannonballs whistled towards the two tall and sturdy battleships, each hit made the hull of these two battleships tremble slightly, but after all, they were the most outstanding wooden battleships of this era, although those shells smashed shallow craters in the hull one after another, or cracked holes, but it is not possible to make them incapacitated in a short period of time.

Zhai Qing, the captain of the Purple Shark Ship, roared loudly, quickly conveying one order after another, while the guns in the three-layer gun emplacements on the side of the battleship were spewing out flames and gunpowder smoke alternately at the fastest speed.

Grapeballs rained down on the hull, killing all living forces on the deck of the battleship with maximum coverage, while solid shells were mainly ejected from the barrels of the second and third gun decks for the purpose of destroying the structure of the hull.

In just a few minutes, the deck of the Purple Shark can almost be described as full of corpses, if it is not for the preparations that have been made in advance, all the sail leaves have been contained, and a large amount of seawater has already been splashed on the deck and sail leaves, it is very likely that the deck has become a hell of blood and fire.

Still, there was a steady stream of soldiers rushing out of the cabin, clucking and clucking, and firing at the enemy ship that was rushing diagonally.

The first mate, wearing the helmet with a hideous crack that had been rubbed out by grapeshot, rushed to the captain's side, and roared loudly, hoping that the captain Zhai Qing would follow his advice and turn around, so as not to fall into a heavy encirclement of the giant ship.

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However, Zhai Qing was unmoved, sternly screamed, continued to maintain the direction, and fought back with all his might, although his expression and voice were extremely resolute, but his heart was already very anxious, you know, there is only one second-level battleship in the New World Fleet, and the Purple Shark is the only one, and has been used as the flagship of the commander of the New World Fleet, but now, it has become a chess piece, yes, he actually used three main battleships with very strong firepower and defense as bait, to attract the main force of the fleet of the United States of America, this approach, if it were not for the trust in Zhang Xingba's excellent naval combat level, and Zhai Qing was a hardcore henchman who was born and died many times in the South Seas, maybe he would not agree to Zhang Xingba's almost crazy plan at all.

Zhai Qingtie's face turned blue, watching those servant soldiers on that deck exchange fire with the soldiers on the enemy warships that were gradually approaching within the shooting range, but in his heart, it was like eighteen buckets of water, seven up and eight down.

The opposing warship group is like two boxers, and the movement of the battleship group seems to show the trajectory of each punch. And the Chinese Imperial Fleet quickly became the core of the rice balls with those three huge ships, because the battle-hardened captains of the United States of America were like a pack of vicious dogs seeing three huge, steaming fleshy bones.

"Your Excellency, the captains of the battleships in front did not follow the order and turned forward, but instead watched the three capital ships of the other side." With the adjutant's report, Brigadier General Hall, who had been holding a telescope and observing the battle situation ahead, looked a little helpless. "Those idiots, don't they understand that we are now the navy of the country, not a stalking privateer."

"Your Excellency, you can't let these people, who are accustomed to this way of fighting, be able to correct them in a short time, but I don't think you need to be so nervous, we have completely the upper hand, several of the opponent's main warships have fallen into our encirclement, as long as we deal with them, soon, we can insert into their battleship formation and divide them." Next to him, a commodore smiled reservedly.

The corners of Rear Admiral Hall's mouth turned up slightly, but then he withdrew again, and his expression was still very serious: "Tell Captain Robert to lead the detachment to bypass those damn fools, rush forward, and disrupt the other party's formation...... When this battle is over, I'm sure to make those fools understand what military discipline is. ”

"As you wish, Your Excellency, Major General!" His orders would soon be delivered. And at this moment, the scout at the lookout post shouted loudly. Pointing to the sea to the right of the fleet, he shouted loudly, but the artillery fire ahead was so dense that it was difficult for those standing on the deck to hear what the scout was saying.

"I think he's talking about smoke, and the smoking battleship is heading this way." It took a lot of effort for a clear-eyed subordinate to translate the scout's words.

(To be continued)